Moderation policy & trial complaints procedure

[ian neal]

Moderation policy and forum management: February 2007

Current moderators

Ian Neal
Andrew Johnson
Tony Gosling
John White
JHR
Superadmin (currently inactive)
Mick Meaney

Purpose

This forum currently hosted by www.nineeleven.co.uk aims to provide access to discussion forums and other online media related to political, economic, social or military events arising from the so-called ‘War on Terror’.

The purpose of this forum is to provide a safe, respectful, positive space for the discussion and information sharing. The forum is intended for the use of people who accept the need for a reinvestigation of 9/11 and the war on terror. Those who believe no new investigation is required should only post in the critics corner.

The forum administrators are committed to a non-violent transformation of the world based on truth, justice, peace and unity. The forum is independent and not affiliated to any individual organisation, philosophy or worldview. It finds common cause with the truth, social justice, green and peace movements

Guidance for forum users

The following guidance is provided to forum users

Treat people as you wish to be treated yourself.
Be polite even if you disagree vehemently.
A degree of humility is not a bad thing – leave your egos at home.
Keep a sense of humour
And remember it’s nice to be important but more important to be nice

“Those of us who attempt to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening our own self-understanding, freedom, integrity and capacity to love, will not have anything to give others. We will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of our own obsessions, our agressivity, our ego-centered ambitions and our delusions about ends and means”

Thomas Merton

The moderators will consider a user has broken this guidance by

a) Posting threats of violence - overt or implied.

b) Posting abusive, racist, sexist and inflammatory or derogatory remarks or material including ‘unnecessary’ swearing

c) Making allegations against other users without providing evidence to back up such allegations (such as calling them an agent or shill) including abusive signatures

d) Repeated examples of bad netiquette
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netiquette

Examples of bad netiquette

Posting material irrelevant to the thread and diverting discussions
Starting threads in inappropriate sections or with inappropriate titles
Inappropriate swearing, flippancy and sarcasm
Starting duplicate threads

Referring to other posters in your signature
Starting threads calling for another poster to be banned

Examples of good netiquette

Thinking before clicking submit
Praising or acknowledging those you agree with
Using the search function to find previous discussions and existing threads
Taking care when posting: often less is more
Alerting the moderators of offensive or abusive posts or users by private message

Levels of intervention

Deletion or editing individual posts (Any moderator)

Splitting or renaming threads: (Any moderator)

Moving threads: (Any moderator)

Locking threads: (Any moderator with explanation)

Deletion or suspension of threads *: (With agreement of any 2 moderators with explanation)

Account suspension for 7 or 14 days *: (Any 2 moderators with explanation)

Restriction of posting rights to the critics corner or free-speech zone only *: (Any 2 moderators with explanation)

Account deletion *: (Any 4 moderators)

Communications and appeal process

No discussion of forum moderation on the forum. The moderators are open to discussing general forum moderation and management with individual users by private message, email or phone, but will not comment publicly on the forum. Moderators will (at their discretion) discuss specific moderation decisions by PM, email or phone.

When moderators take significant actions (marked with *), moderators will explain their decision by email with the user concerned and this exchange will be posted on the forum

Moderators will seek to act as a team in a consistent manner. The moderation team will be accountable individually to each other and collectively through a ‘moderation team leader’ who will be responsible for representing the forum moderators publicly. This role is currently fulfilled by Ian Neal.

In the unlikely event that irreconcilable differences arise between the moderators, any moderator can call for a vote of no confidence and request another moderator steps down if 2/3rds majority of moderators agree. Discussions amongst moderators will remain private.

[TonyGosling]

Current Administrators
JHR
5UPerRaAdMiN
Andrew Johnson
Ian Neal
Mick Meaney

Moderators
John White
TonyGosling

see mods panel here



www.nineeleven.co.uk forum - Trial Complaints Policy - let's see if it works
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COMPLAINTS AGAINST OTHER USERS AND MODERATORS

We expect all users to treat other users with respect and good humour. Whilst PMs are considered private at no point must they ever be used to threaten or abuse users. If you feel you have been abused either by a moderator or by another user you can request redress in the following manner.

1. Politely PM the moderator or user directly using the subject "formal complaint" with full details of the URL and text of which you wish to complain.

2. If this does not bring satisfaction after 48 hours (greater or lesser time depending on the gravity of the complaint) you can then PM Ian Neal who will in turn post your complaint along with a poll (options are nothing, warning, final warning or ban) in the moderator's private section, PM all mods to bring it to their attention and invite opinions as to the best way to proceed.

3. Ian will then act on the moderators' recommendations either to issue a formal warning, a final warning or a ban.

4. Final warnings and bans will be published, along with the original complaint, on the public forum.